Appliance Door Opening Path for Tight Gaps and Clearance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of kitchen appliances in households, leading to closer placement and reduced usable space, necessitates a method to open appliance doors that minimizes separation gaps while maximizing usable height and avoiding interference with adjacent appliances.
Innovation Solution
The method involves rotating and translating the appliance door about a pivot point, adjusting its position in the X and Y directions to clear physical constraints, allowing for increased usable height and minimized gaps, by translating the door from a closed position to intermediate and finally opened positions, ensuring the handle does not interfere with lower doors and allowing the rack to be lowered without compromising clearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the appliance door is opened by rotating about a fixed pivot point, then the door can be opened easily, but the separation gap between appliances cannot be minimized and usable height is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the pivot point movable rather than fixed. The pivot point translates along an arc path with varying radius during door opening, allowing the door to clear adjacent appliances while minimizing separation gaps. This dynamic adjustment of the pivot position enables the door to follow an optimized trajectory that reduces the required separation distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dimensionality change by moving the pivot point not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction along an arc path. This two-dimensional movement of the pivot point allows the door to clear physical constraints below it while opening, effectively utilizing vertical space to reduce horizontal separation requirements.
2Device complexity
If the appliance door is opened by rotating about a fixed pivot point, then the door structure is simple, but the usable height of the appliance is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the pivot point movable rather than fixed. The pivot point translates along an arc path with varying radius during door opening, allowing the door to clear adjacent appliances while minimizing separation gaps. This dynamic adjustment of the pivot position enables the door to follow an optimized trajectory that reduces the required separation distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dimensionality change by moving the pivot point not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction along an arc path. This two-dimensional movement of the pivot point allows the door to clear physical constraints below it while opening, effectively utilizing vertical space to reduce horizontal separation requirements.
3Device complexity
If the door is opened with a fixed pivot point, then the mechanism is simple, but the handle may interfere with lower doors or components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the pivot point movable rather than fixed. The pivot point translates along an arc path with varying radius during door opening, allowing the door to clear adjacent appliances while minimizing separation gaps. This dynamic adjustment of the pivot position enables the door to follow an optimized trajectory that reduces the required separation distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-planning the pivot point trajectory to clear physical constraints before the door actually reaches them. The pivot point follows a predetermined arc path that ensures the door clears lower doors, components, or cabinet edges during the opening motion, preventing interference before it can occur.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of opening an appliance door includes translating the door up and away from a unit so as to clear a lower edge of a physical constraint, thus allowing for gaps to be minimized, further translating the appliance door out so that its handle would not make contact with an adjacent door should the adjacent door be closed or opened while the appliance door is opened, thus allowing the appliance door to be lowered when the same is fully opened in order to increase the usable height and to reduce the gaps below and above the appliance door.